


Some Hearts Are Ghosts

by coldqueen5



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldqueen5/pseuds/coldqueen5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Random (unconnected) drabbles set in the world of SPR.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Feeling You, Feeling Me

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I wish it were mine so I could make more series of it...alas...

_Drabble One: "Feeling You, Feeling Me" Alicia Keys_

* * *

 

 

 

The first three weeks they slept in the same bed neither of them received enough rest. Monk made jokes about the dark circles under her eyes (never anywhere Lin could hear) but the explanation behind their mutual state of unrest had nothing to do with their sexual activities, which were perfectly fine (if multiple orgasms and accidental scratches on his back could be considered fine), and everything to do with the simple intimacy that came with occupying the same space. Mai hadn't lived with another person since her mother had passed, and Lin had last lived with Naru and even that had been years before. He'd never lived with a woman he'd been involved with, and he was her first for everything, including cohabitation.

Ayako counseled her to give it time and Mai was too embarrassed to talk candidly about it with Lin so that was exactly what she did.

Two nights after they closed a case involving the haunting of a small town ballet school Mai stirred awake and blinked blearily into the dark, unsettling dreams of dancing girls and sinister mirror images blurring and fading as her conscious thoughts overwhelmed them. It wasn't one of her significant visions, more like the vestiges of emotions from the case lingering and corrupting her usually pleasant dreams, but it wasn't the first time she'd woken in the dark of Lin's (their) apartment and felt a small pang of longing for her small studio apartment on the north side of Tokyo. If she'd been there and had a bad dream she knew exactly what she would've done. She would have risen from bed, made herself a cup of tea, and used the calming effect of soft music to relax herself, but that was there, now she stayed with Koujo and she found herself unsure of exactly what to do. It had been her dilemma for the past few weeks, trying to figure out which of her home habits were compatible with Lin's, finding compromises that would allow their relationship to continue to flourish.

Mai glanced over at Lin and observed his slumbering form; he was sprawled out on his stomach, easily taking up three-fourths of the bed yet somehow managing not to touch her. His hand twitched in sleep where it rested on her pillow and she shifted just an inch closer so that she could feel his knuckles grazing her cheekbone. She fought the urge to wake him, knowing that this was the deepest he'd slept in weeks, though it was due in most part to the tremendous use of his psychic abilities to solve the case that he was still recovering from. Neither of them were particularly affectionate outside of sex, and while they'd been dating he'd never stayed the whole night, preferring to return to his apartment when their lusts had been sufficiently sated. She hadn't minded his decision, she knew him well enough to know that despite their intimacy he wouldn't find it appropriate to stay, not until he'd made his intentions very clear in regards to their future.

Mai smiled as she remembered the night he'd asked her to move in with him, how smooth his words had been but his hand clenched tightly on top of the tablecloth betraying his nerves. She hadn't even thought about it before saying yes; it'd been the most instinctive and easiest decision she'd ever made.

Then Mai knew, the answer that had been in front of her the past few weeks, hidden under her self-doubt and nerves. Nothing between her and Lin had ever been difficult, they'd never stumbled over the next step in their relationship, never faltered, so why was this suddenly so hard when it didn't have to be? Mai nodded her head minutely as she resolved herself to stop second guessing everything and to find her courage again.

Mai slid closer to Lin under the sheets, easily shifting so that their legs entwined and her cheek rested on his bare back. He was smooth and warm under her, his body lean but yielding. She ran her fingers lightly over his bicep, smiling into the valley of pale skin that held his strong backbone before settling down and letting the rise and fall of his breathing lull her back to rest. Sleep came easily to her then, though she'd been so preoccupied with her thoughts she hadn't noticed that Lin too had awoken shortly after she. He permitted a small smile to lift his lips as Mai finally found a place in his bed that she could be comfortable with before forcing his own body to relax once more. He'd never doubted that they'd fit as perfectly together here as they did everywhere else.


	2. Let's Forget All The Things That We Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things never turn out quite how you expect, but she wouldn't trade this life for any other. (Set approximately ten years in the future from the end of the anime.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Still not mine.

The soft knock on the frame of his office door at this time of night could only be one person but Lin knew better than to call out permission for her to enter. Instead he pushed himself away from the desk silently and tread his way to the door cautiously, focusing his shiki on the small sleeping form on his leather couch and his own eyes on the shut door. The turning of the knob brought a soft creak that had his back stiffening but he gently pulled the door inward anyways.

"Lin, have you seen Kammi? I could've sworn she was napping in the sitting area and I went to make Naru tea and when I returned-" Mai's rambling question fell silent at his gesture and her look of slight panic slid into a soft love as she observed the sleeping girl on Lin's couch. "I'm sorry, Lin. I didn't realize she'd sneaked in here. I hope she didn't bother you."

"She didn't disturb me. She asked for a story and fell asleep after a few minutes," Lin replied, stepping back and to the side to allow Mai entrance into his office, watching as she stepped timidly closer to her daughter.

"You told her a story?" Mai asked, shifting her waist-length hair over her shoulder to smile at him.

"I verbally dictated the case file I was typing up."

"I'm surprised it took her more than a minute to fall asleep," she teased, turning back to her daughter and brushing the dark hair from her cherubic cheek. Lin watched the gesture with a small twinge in his heart, not surprised that Mai was such a good mother, more surprised that he was envious. "I almost hate to wake her, but her father will be by any minute to pick her up."

"How are things progressing?" Lin asked as he returned to his position behind his computer, his fingers returning to their rhythmic tapping of the keys but his eyes shifting up to observe Mai's expression as she responded.

"The divorce will be final next week, but not having her with me every night is harder than I thought it would be. He's her father and we agreed to share custody, but the actual sharing part hurts."

Lin gestured that she should take a seat in front of the desk, but Mai chose to instead perch herself on the edge of the desk and read his work over his shoulder as he typed. "Amon hasn't been making things difficult for you?"

Mai grinned at him, her voice quiet as she asked, "If he was, would you beat him up for me?"

"I could have my shiki make him very uncomfortable," Lin asserted, not returning her smile with his lips but letting his mirth brighten his eyes.

"No, he hasn't made things difficult. Things are very...amicable. We're keeping things friendly for Kammi, we don't want this to affect her negatively," Mai explained, shrugging softly. "One of the good things about her staying with him half the week is that I can go out on jobs with the team again. It'll be good for me to put my degree to practical use instead of staying here in the office all the time."

"Kammi seems to be adjusting well," Lin noted, "and I know that we have all missed your particular brand of insight in our cases."

"She likes you, you know. Calls you 'Uncle Koujo'," Mai pointed out, restraining the soft laugh that curled her lips even as Lin glared at her. "I think Ayako taught her that."

"I'm not surprised," Lin swore, pausing in his typing to stretch his fingers and shift in his seat. Mai smiled at him softly, and he arched a brow at the way she was looking at him. "What?"

"Why don't you have children, Lin? You're good with them."

"I am not in a relationship, Mai, that generally removes the option of children for the time being."

"You could easily be in a relationship. I've seen the way women look at you," Mai declared, sliding closer to flick the long swoop of dark hair teasingly so that it swayed against his cheek. "They see those deep drown eyes, the high cheekbones, the dreamy hair, and just fall at your feet."

Lin hesitated, his brow furrowing as he stared at her. "High cheekbones?"

"You're prettier than I am," Mai gleefully informed him, sliding off the desk and shrugging. "I got over it years ago."

"I don't agree," Lin argued, sitting back and allowing himself a slow, thorough study of Mai's personage, starting with the elegant lines of her legs where they stretched out from her pencil skirt and ending with the pretty blush that tinted her cheeks when she caught him looking. If Lin had been more suave with his charms he'd have smiled at her, perhaps even winked his eye, and turned that soft blush into a deep rose, but he wasn't the flirtatious type so he let the moment slide.

A knock echoed through the office and reached their eyes and Mai instinctively moved to answer it. "That must be Amon," she announced quietly, her body tensing as she paused and turned back to him. "Do you think you could carry Kammi for me? I need to grab her bag from my desk and let him in."

Lin nodded and waited until Mai had moved out of sight into the dimly lit hallway before rounding his desk and kneeling beside the couch. Kammi was a miniature version of her mother, the only difference being the darker coloring that she received from her father. Lin gently shifted her towards him, easily lifting her into his long arms and waiting until she'd settled down against his shoulder before standing. He could feel her eyelashes shifting against his neck as he walked, her eyes blinking slowly as sleep begrudgingly released her.

"Unc-a Koo-jo?"

"Yes?"

"You think I pretty too?"

Kammi apparently had not been as asleep as she'd seemed. Lin shifted so that he could see the child's face, smiling slightly as he nodded. "You're gorgeous, Kammi. Just like your mother."

She nodded, and tilted her head back, pursing her lips. "Kiss good night?"

He couldn't resist, not when her big eyes looked at him so lovingly and without question. When Kammi received her kiss she tucked herself back into his neck, and Lin fought the knot in his chest at the sensation. She felt small and vulnerable, but the fact that she was so clearly comfortable with him, so assured of her safety in his arms that she had already almost slipped back into sleep, shook Lin to his core. He didn't know why he felt this way, so covetous of the child's affection and unsettled by how he yearned for it. He'd have to think on the matter longer, diagnose the variables so that his emotional response wouldn't catch him off guard next time.

He turned the corner of the hallway and stopped beside Mai, who'd been talking quietly with the man that had just arrived. Lin nodded in greeting, before moving to transfer the man's daughter to his arms. Kammi yawned and stretched as she moved from one man to the other, her eyes opening and closing several times before focusing on her father's face. "Daddy, Unc-a Koo-jo said I and mama is gor-chus."

"Mama and I," Amon correctly instinctively, arching a brow at Mai as she gaped at Kammi's words before shaking her head slightly and with mild incredulity. "And I agree. Did you have fun at Mama's work today?"

She nodded and spent several minutes rambling on in her only half-intelligible way about the things she'd done that day. When she'd wound herself down, her arms clutching her father's neck loosely and her head growing heavier with each passing minute until it rested fully on his shoulder, she looked at her mother with the same loving look she'd sent to Lin in the hallway. "Good night kiss, Mama?"

Mai honored the request, and Lin watched silently as she ran her hand gently through Kammi's hair before stepping back to watch as Amon and Kammi left. They stood silently for several seconds before unanimously retreating back to his office. Lin reclaimed his seat behind the desk and Mai sank into his couch, not looking at him as her hand passed over the warm leather where her daughter had curled up in rest. "I miss her already," Mai confessed, her frown pronounced as she finally shifted her eyes over to him.

Lin didn't reply immediately, instead finishing up the words his fingers typed out automatically before saving and shutting down his computer. "That's to be expected, but you need not wallow. Grab your coat, I'll take you to dinner before I take you home."

Mai's frown shifted, not quite as pronounced but not quite a smile. "Is this a pity date, Lin?"

"I don't do pity dates with gorgeous women," Lin denied, shrugging into his coat before gesturing for her to precede him into the outer office. He didn't need even the dim light of the hallway to know she was blushing again.

"You don't have to take me out, I can just go home," Mai explained, reaching for her jacket and struggling with the fabric before allowing him to assist her.

Lin waited until the coat was snug on her shoulders before leaning in and speaking softly, his breath warm on her ear as he did so, "I want to."

Mai waited until he stood beside her before slipping her arm around his and letting him lead her to the door. "Maybe this isn't a good idea."

He shrugged before going through the motions of locking the office up behind them. Mai moved to the elevator and pressed the down button, stepping inside and holding the door open until he could join her. They stepped inside, the doors shut, and then Lin stepped closer. Mai's back pressed to the wall of the elevator, the soft vibration of it's movement tingling down her body, her neck delicately arched as she stared up at Lin, waiting for him to make a move, anything to indicate the thoughts forming behind his unfathomable eyes. His long fingers were warm as they cupped her face, angling closer. "I think it's a very good idea," Lin decided, closing the distance between them without hesitation and kissing her.


	3. We Need Not Be Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It happened once and they swore it wouldn't again...but then it did. Twice. Thrice. A dozen times. How long can they keep themselves from acknowledging what everyone else already knows?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own it. Who told you that? They lied.

_She's leaving small scratches on the back of his neck but he doesn't mind and she's too caught up in the earth shaking orgasm that's ricocheting in her body to notice._

_He said this wouldn't happen, that he'd be stronger than the temptation that she presented. A couple of dates and a roll in the sheets with a woman of his choice before moving on had been his_ modus operandi  _for years_ . _Contrarily, Lin had already been with Mai twice, but the craving for her hadn't gone away._

_The dynamics of being colleagues added complications that he didn't want to deal with and they'd both agreed it was better to avoid it...but then the team had gone out for drinks after a bad case and three martinis later her skirt was around her waist and he had her bent over the bathroom sink._

_Tonight she'd walked in, schoolgirl skirt swaying and white button-up modestly covering up what he knew to be a lithe but soft body, and with the knowledge that the office was empty other than them Lin made his move without even realizing it. She'd placed a cup of tea next to his hand and turned to leave, he'd reached out and pulled her closer instead._

_They didn't talk, they didn't need to. They spoke all day. They discussed her experiences at school, examined the different facets of their current case, made small talk about things of no consequence, debated newsworthy events._

_The sizzling lust that sparked between them wasn't one of those topics._

“So anyone new in your life?”

Mai's grip on the tea cup slipped, though she caught it before it hit the counter. “What? No! Why? Why do you ask?”

Ayako's cheshire grin turned kind. “Naru has been dating Masako for almost six months now. I know we've never talked about it, but your feelings for him weren't as well hidden as you thought."

Mai started to laugh, stifling it when her friend looked startled. “Ayako, that was years ago. I haven't had a crush on Naru since he and Lin returned from England.”

“Yet, you don't date?”

Mai shifted on her feet, turning away from the older woman whose sisterly feelings sometimes bordered on smothering. “I've dated, I just didn't make an issue of it. I didn't think you all would approve.”

Ayako hesitated before speaking again, stepping closer to stand beside Mai and lowering her voice to avoid being overheard. “I know about you and Hosho. When he and I started to see each other, he told me.”

“It was only a couple of dates. We figured out very quickly that there was no...” Mai paused, biting her lip before confessing, “passion.”

“While that's good for me, are you sure you know what passion is?”

Mai laughed again, her smile devilishly amused. “I do now.”

“ _Pull over.”_

“ _The others are just ahead of us. They'll notice.”_

“ _I texted Naru and told him we needed gas and we'd be along shortly, now pull over.”_

“ _This isn't a good idea,” Lin admonished, doing as she said anyways. There was a small road that led into a copse of trees just ahead, and he'd barely pulled in and put the van in park before Mai was straddling him. His hands grasped her thighs instinctively, his long fingers sliding upward as he tilted his head to let her nibble her way to his ear. The small choking groan that erupted from his long throat was either pleasure from the sensation her delicate little bites evoked in him, or shock at the surprise he found under her skirt. “How long have you been without your undergarments?”_

“ _Since the last rest stop,” she confessed, settling deeper into his lap and slowly rocking herself back and forth for stimulation. “I like your hands, Koujo, your long artist's fingers, so gentle but strong. Even when all you're doing is driving, so in control and calm, you're teasing me.” She leaned back, using her own fingers to unbutton her shirt slowly. Her eyes danced with a combination of mirth and want and she suckled at his bottom lip for a second before whispering, “I want you to put them on me. Touch me, Koujo.”_

“Lin, have you seen the stepladder? Naru wants me to adjust the camera in the kitchen.”

“I believe it's back at the office,” Lin explained, looking up from his intense study of the results of the spectrometer test. “I can take care of the adjustments.”

“No, it's fine! I'll just use a chair,” Mai replied with a bright smile, flouncing out of the room with a swing of her hips that had him smirking at his monitors.

Lin focused back on his reports from the night before, comparing them to the readings they'd recorded during the last suspicious activity, glancing back to the monitors every few minutes to ensure that Mai was still okay. She had a penchant for attracting trouble, and it was double when they were on cases. He'd just discovered that the base of the stairs was radiating energy that indicated it'd been the site of particular spectral activity when he glanced over at the monitors and immediately lost track of what he'd just been thinking. Mai wasn't standing on a chair adjusting the camera anymore, she was being cradled in the arms of their host.

Lin hadn't realized when he'd interviewed the man just how attractive the younger man was. He was slightly shorter, far closer to Mai's age, and smiling at her like she was the most brilliant thing he'd ever seen. All of those things wouldn't have been so bad if Mai wasn't smiling brightly back.

He'd left his chair and was striding towards the kitchen before he'd even recognized the dark emotion swirling in his mind. His hands clenched and unclenched but by the time he reached his destination he'd forced relaxation into his body and seemed calm. “What's going on here?”

Mai's face was startled as she swiveled her head towards him. “I fell, Koujo, but Mr. Fujimoto caught me. I think I'm alright, though.”

Lin quickly noted several factors about the situation that put to ease the green eyed beast that was lurking under his skin. First, Mai was pressing her hands against their host's shoulders, attempting to put distance between them though their host didn't seem to notice. Her body was also stiff and her lips pursed together in a way that clearly broadcasted her displeasure. On top of all that, she'd called him Koujo in front of their client, and despite the intimate entanglement that had formed between them, Mai was a consummate professional and would never accidentally reveal their relationship. Though exactly what that relationship was, Lin didn't know. He just knew he intensely disliked that another man was touching her.

“Allow me to be the judge of that,” Lin rebuked, striding forward and easily pulling her into his own arms before their host could object or even say anything. “Thank you, Mr. Fujimoto, for assisting Mai, but I will take care of her from here.” Lin didn't smirk at the way Mai curved into him, her body language revealing the intensity of the connection that strengthened between them every day that they didn't put a stop to their liaisons. Lin waited until the man had left them alone in the room before he gently sat her upon the counter, his hands lingering on the curve of her hips as he visually looked for injuries. “Did you hit anything when you fell?”

“No, but I think I twisted my knee a little?” Mai explained, her voice soft as she stared up at him through half lidded eyes, her smile knowing as his fingers curled around the back of her knee.

“This one?”

“Yes.”

It was red and a touch swollen, but nothing too bad. Lin leaned down and brushed his lips across her skin, noting the way she trembled at the touch and how his own skin shivered in response. He looked up at her from where he knelt and there was a spark in her eyes that he knew could stoke into a flame.

“ _He's still with me.”_

“ _Pardon?”_

_Mai closed the office door behind her and stepped over to his window. It looked out on the street and in the afternoon light you could enjoyably watch the busy foot traffic scurry back and forth. “I can't tell Naru, but I have to tell someone. It doesn't make sense. We found his body, he should've passed on, but...” Mai bit her lip, and shook her head. “I was talking to Hosho about doing a spirit quest because he thought it was a good idea for me to gain a new guide, because we were assuming I'd need one.”_

“ _What does the Monk know about spirit quests?” Lin asked, twin notes of condescension and amusement coloring his voice._

“ _Not much, but I figured the peyote would take care of most of the work,” Mai snarked back._

_Lin's entertainment at her expense disappeared immediately. “You were going to let that idiot monk give you peyote? It is a very danger-”_

“ _With the guidance of a visiting shaman, yes, I was. The last case was...hard on me. I have to learn control, Lin. I can't just keep stumbling into my limits or new abilities. I thought a lucid dream would be a good way to explore that side of me. I wasn't alone there, though. Gene was there. He hasn't moved on, Lin, and after everything I've seen in the past few years, I thought he'd be free after his body was put to rest.”_

“ _It's possible that just finding his body was not the resolution he needed. It's also possible that his psychic abilities were so strong that he is keeping himself here by will alone.”_

“ _Should I tell Naru?"_

_Lin didn't answer right away, preferring to think over the serious question for a minute before replying. “No. I do not think that is a good idea.”_

_Mai nodded, her relief at his advice apparent on her face. He noticed for the first time the tension around her eyes, the slight shadow under them revealing sleepless nights, and thought back to their last case. It'd been difficult for everyone; child spirits were hard to deal with in the best of circumstances, but violently murdered children were the worst. She'd had screaming nightmares the entire time they'd been working and now he suspected they'd continued after wards._

“ _Come to my loft at seven. If you want to learn to control your abilities, I will assist you.”_

Mai leaned heavily on his arm as they made their way back to the room they were using for headquarters. When they entered they found the rest of the team had returned and were busy comparing data and 'feelings'. Lin directed Mai to his chair and retrieved an ice pack for her knee, placing it there with a soft smile that was hidden only by the sweep of his hair. They joined the ongoing conversation, eventually leading them to the conclusion that the lady of the house had either been pushed or fallen to her death at the base of the stairs and was luring small children to the house because she missed her own. Naru believed that if they could lead the spirit to her own children's graves, the spirit would move on, though Ayako thought that was simplifying it. Her suggestion was to host a séance and pull the woman's children back from the spirit world to lead their mother on.

“We shall move forward with my plan,” Naru decided, ignoring the squawk of protest from the priestess. “We'll conduct the ceremony during the night. Mai, order some takeout for dinner. Ayako, Masako, if you could find our client and persuade him to show you where the family temple is. Monk, take Father John and place some wardings around the house, I'd rather not have unattended children wandering in during the night. Lin, monitor the cameras and try to restrain from showing affection for your girlfriend until you are off the clock.”

Mai gaped like a fish, her mouth opening and closing as she couldn't find anything to say. Lin wasn't so lost for words. “I was under the impression that you didn't monitor the feeds."

“I wasn't, Ayako and Masako were,” Naru explained. He smirked at them as he started to leave the room. “Father John would like to meet with you after the case to discuss your intentions towards Mai.”

_Mai's eyes fluttered quickly, sleep still clouding her eyes as she blinked up at him. “You were in my dream.”_

“ _It wasn't a dream, it was your subconscious,” Lin explained, sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch so that she wouldn't strain her neck trying to talk to him. “You're absurdly fond of gummy bears.”_

“ _They're delicious,” she replied sluggishly, her smile coquettish as she struggled to regain her equilibrium. There was something terribly intimate about being in someone's mind, it could be an invasion, but with her permission it became an invitation. Lin had been surprised by the warmth of her thoughts, their clarity and rhythm were almost hypnotic. Had he not been trained so well, he could've easily been swept away by her mind, and explored the depths the rest of his days. As it was, he'd encountered several surprising things in there, and one of particular interest._

“ _I should be getting home,” Mai stated, pulling herself into a sitting position that accidentally placed aligned their bodies quite closely._

“ _I was thinking you'd stay,” Lin announced, his eyes flicking down to her lips and back to her eyes._

“ _I'm sorry?”_

“ _You're attracted to me, I'm attracted to you. I'd like to explore that, if you're inclined.” Lin didn't allow his nerves to show, though the urge to tap his foot repeatedly against the floor as he waited for her response was almost irresistible._

_Mai stood and paced away, turning to stare back at him with a look of wonder on her face. “You read that I'm attracted to you from my subconscious. That's-”_

“ _Invasive? You invited me in.”_

“ _To help me learn to control my astral self. Not to read my private thoughts.”_

“ _There are no barriers in your subconscious. It's not possible to filter.”_

“ _I'm attracted to many people, I don't sleep with all of them.”_

_Lin stood and moved closer, his lips curling with a sensual grin she'd never seen before. “You're very, very attracted to me.”_

“ _We shouldn't do this,” Mai announced, though Lin noted she didn't step away._

“ _No, we probably shouldn't.”_

_He kissed her anyways._

 


	4. Heart Beats Slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai becomes lost after a brutal spiritual attack, with no way to get back.

It started after Nagasaki, after a demon dog attacked the team and tore through her mental shields like paper, leaving her nothing more than an empty husk without a thought behind it.

The best neurological doctors in Japan couldn't explain it, there was no reason for her to stay asleep for so long, yet she wasn't waking. Lin knew, however, he could sense that she'd left her body. The only way for her to ever return to them was for him to find her. No other member of the team would be capable of entering the spirit realm as fully as she had, and as he could. The ritual would take some time to prepare for, there were herbs that he'd require that were not in season yet, certain moon phases that had already passed. Unfortunately, Mai would have to stay in the coma until he could get those things.

He visited every day.

After a few months her lease came up, and he and the team packed away her things. Instead of storage, he had them taken to the house he shared with Naru. Their third bedroom could hold them until she woke up, and sometimes the way the air outside of his bedroom smelled like her made him smile even if it made his chest hurt as he recalled how long it'd been since he'd seen her smile. Naru accused him of grieving her, that despite his actions he didn't believe he'd be able to bring her back, but that wasn't the cause of his melancholy. The reason Lin couldn't seem to drag himself out of that dark place was because it was only by losing her that he realized how much he'd grown to care for her.

Now he wanted her back, desperately, in whatever way that he could have her and time just wasn't on his side. It would be at least two more months before the herbs were mature enough to create the tincture he needed to leave his body. It would take an immense surge of power to break the restraints he'd placed on his spirit to prevent possession and projection, but for her he would do it.

He dreamt of her every night.

_They were running down the street, a deluge of rain making the inky shadows seem malevolent. Her hand was clenched in his, her nails biting into his skin sharply but he refused to release her. “We have to find shelter.”_

“ _I can hear them, Koujo, they're getting closer,” Mai whimpered, pressing her face into his back as they paused on the street corner. The sound of howls and barking echoed down the street behind them, she was right they were gaining on them._

_Lin studied the houses around them, smiling ferociously when he saw a thin sliver of light appear around one of the doors. “There!” He leapt towards the door, pulling her with him and inside as he kicked the door open. There was no deadbolt that could keep the oni out, but he knew of a couple wards that would. A quick slash of his knife gave him the medium he needed, blood would hold the protection longer than any ink or chalk would. He was just finishing the last sigil when an immense dark force slammed into the other side, sending him skittering backwards._

“ _Will it hold?” Mai asked, wrapping her arms around herself as if cold. She was soaking wet, so was he, but she didn't have enough body mass to fight off the immense cold like he did._

“ _Yes.” Lin reached for her and she slid into his arms like she was meant to be there. Her soft form fit against him perfectly, his chin resting on the top of her head as she shook against him. “You're cold. We need to warm you up.”_

“ _I've been looking for you,” she asserted, ignoring his observation. “I don't know what's going on, I'm scared.”_

“ _You don't have to be scared, I will always come for you,” Lin reassured her, pulling back so that he could see her face. “We're going to fix this. I'm gathering everything I need to bring you home.”_

“ _It's getting harder for me to remember where I'm trying to go, Koujo, I've been here for so long.”_

“ _I know.” There was a blanket on the couch in the living area, he wrapped it around her and they sat together, fingers entwined as they let the silence stretch between them. It was a dream, he knew it was a dream, but she felt real, she acted like her, sounded like, smelled like her. “It won't be much longer now.”_

“We have a new case.”

“Where?”

“Saitama.”

“I will not be joining you.”

“She is not going anywhere, Lin.”

“And neither am I.”

_She was waiting in a field of poppies, their bright red color absolutely still, no wind to disturb them. As soon as he stepped foot in the field it was like a drop of water in a lake, they bowed away from him in waves, bouncing back and forth in his wake. She turned as he approached, her expression grave. “The oni are gone.”_

“ _That's good.”_

“ _No, Koujo,” Mai denied, “it's not. Something else is coming. Someone else. I can feel him, like electricity in the air. Except it's not. Because this isn't air. Because this isn't real.”_

“ _It's as real as we make it.”_

_She reached for his hands and he allowed her to pull him closer. “If it's a dream, then I can do what I want.”_

_Her lips were softer than even he had imagined._

“We need you here, Lin. The spirit is resisting all efforts of exorcism,” Ayako screeched through the speaker of the office phone. Lin quirked his eyebrow but didn't pick up the receiver. Even if Ayako doubted Naru's capabilities without his assistant, he knew that Naru was more than proficient. More often than not Lin was merely there to catch him as he overexerted himself, since telling him not to do something pretty much guaranteed he would. He'd actually already spoken with his ward and knew that Naru had a plan for banishing the spirit from the home, but wouldn't be able to do so until tonight, when the moon was fully waned.

Tonight was also the night he would attempt to wake Mai, when the layers between the physical and spirit realms were thinnest. He'd prepared himself as much as he could, meditating for four hours this afternoon alone. That he was trying this when the team was gone was for the best, they'd only distract him. If for whatever reason he wasn't able to bring her back, then maybe he'd just stay with her. The spirit realm wasn't the most hospitable place, but if she was there then he could survive it.

_Lin pushed himself through the heavy gray fog, searching for a sign of something solid or familiar in the dense shadow. He felt himself flailing, unable to ground himself or find his bearings, with no sense of where Mai could be or where his sudden jump into the spirit realm had landed him. He knew that it often mirrored the physical realm, taking most of it's basic dimensions and shapes from there, but if there was anywhere that mirrored this place it was the deep dark ocean, endless and overwhelming._

“ _Lin...”_

_A whisper reached him, his senses were stretched so wide it might as well have been a scream with the way it grabbed his attention. He wrapped the sound around him like it was a physical lasso and using it pulled himself from the soupy nothingness that surrounded him. A wind slipped past him, a piercing speed that chilled him to his bones. When he finally stopped he was kneeling at her feet, her hands in his._

“ _Mai!”_

_Her face was solemn as she gazed at him, her eyes almost empty of their usual light. “You never told me.”_

“ _Told you what?”_

_She swallowed and pulled her hands from his. “What happens to souls who linger here too long. ”_

“ _You're fine, Mai. We're going home now,” Lin assured her, his magic already reaching out to find a weak point in the walls between the realms. He looked around and realized they were in the office, the walls hazy but defined, the furniture familiar._

“ _Not me, Lin,” she whispered, clenching her fingers around his shirt and stepping closer. “Gene.”_

“ _What are you talking about?”_

“ _Our first case, at my school? I first saw him then. I thought he was Naru, or some version of him my mind had made up. When we began to realize that my dreams were cognitive I realized that he was something else. It took me a long time to understand who he was. I thought when you and Naru took his body back to England that he'd be able to move on, but he didn't.”_

“ _So I've been here, waiting for you.”_

_Lin startled, the voice was one he'd never thought he'd hear again. Despite being a twin, Gene had always had a distinctive way of speaking, very different from Oliver. Rather than a mirror image, Gene and Oliver had been more two sides of the same coin; different but ultimately made of the same material and strength. “You shouldn't be here, Gene.”_

“ _I can't leave,” he explained, almost apologetically to his once mentor. Lin shuddered, every facet of the boy's face was correct, even down to the small scar on his chin where Gene had once nicked himself shaving. It was disconcerting to see that face so young, especially when he saw Naru every day and could now compare the way he had aged to the way they had once been. Gene's eyes observed the discomfort on Lin's face before sliding down to Mai's face._

_Lin could feel it then, the connection between the two. “You're feeding off her life force.”_

“ _It was an accident.”_

“ _You're killing her,” Lin swore, his arms wrapping around Mai as she weakened and lost the strength to stand._

“ _She is...mine. I think we were always meant to be connected but the accident...it made things more difficult.”_

“ _You never believed in things like soul mates before,” Lin retorted, looping his arm under Mai's knees and cradling her to her chest._

“ _Being dead can change things,” Gene explained, his face becoming malevolent. Mai's form was becoming blurry around the edges, the colors of her stretching away on an invisible wind and filling Gene. With each passing minute he became more solid and she faded._

“ _I'm sorry, Gene. For what happened to you. I will not allow this, however.” Lin silently called his shiki and instructed them to sever the link. They tore at the thread, manifesting teeth and claws and shredding through the strings of Mai and Gene's souls that had become entwined. With each wound Gene screamed and Mai echoed his painful screech. Her body hummed with agony, muscles twitching and her breath catching in her throat as she shook in his arms._

_When it was done, Gene was gone and they were alone._

Lin awoke in lotus position on the hospital floor, late morning light coming through the blinds and slanting across his face. He could hear the noise of the morning shift outside the door, could even see signs that the nurse had come and gone, changing Mai's leads and sensors, all necessary for someone in a coma.

He'd need to call for someone to remove them, they were no longer needed.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I need a big glass of water,” she tried to say, and he grinned, standing and ignoring the way his joints creaked from sitting there for twelve hours.

“I can assist with that.”

Several drinks later, she shook her head and tried to sit up. “How long was I sleeping?”

“Six months,” Lin revealed, shrugging when she looked shocked. “You were very lost.”

“You found me.”

“I will always find you,” Lin vowed, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking her hand. “Always.”

* * *

 

Review, please.

 


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